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Winners and other participants with Ambassador Monji and other officials |
The event, for those studying Japanese language in Qatar, began with an opening address by Ambassador Kenjiro Monji. The envoy expressed his gratitude to Qatar and its residents for the generous support to Japan which was severely hit by an earthquake and tsunami last March.
“I am confident Japan will overcome this tragedy with the help of the international community including Qatar and bilateral relations between Qatar and Japan will become much stronger in the future,” he said.
Monji hoped that more and more Qataris would learn Japanese and visit the country.
The ambassador thanked all contributors of the event including the Japan School of Doha, the Jaltaq and sponsor companies such as Qatar Airways and MEGU restaurant.
In all, 21 speakers participated in three sections: the recitation, the assigned topic speech and the free topic speech.
In free topic speech, Abdulghani al-Abdulghani came first for his speech, ‘Mind of Judo.’ He won a round-trip economy ticket to Osaka donated by Qatar Airways along with the original Japanese Point-and-Speak phrasebook.
Second place went to Mohamed al-Mannai for his speech on ‘Ideal Trip and the Reality.’ The prize was a dining voucher for two donated by MEGU restaurant
Safia al-Hajri came third for her speech ‘Eid and Japanese New Year.’ She received a Japanese dictionary set donated by Dr Hassan Medical Centre.
In the assigned topic speech, Anood al-Hajri (My Family Trip) came first. The prize was a dining voucher for two from MEGU restaurant.
Hessa al-Nesf (My Recommendations) came second. She received a Japanese language textbook set donated by Qatar Eastern Language Centre
Mahmoud Awny stood third for his speech ‘My Brother and I.’ The prize was a Japanese kimono calendar donated by Marubeni Corporation.
In recitation, Sara al-Malki came first with ‘kasajizoo.’ She won a dining voucher for two from MEGU restaurant.
Second place went to Saad Abdulla al-Kuwari (kasajizoo) and the prize was a Japanese Graded Readers donated by Dr Hassan Medical Centre.
Shanta Edwards won the third place for ‘My hometown.’ The prize was a Japanese language course discount voucher donated by the Qatar Eastern Language Centre.
In addition to the contest, there was a speech by Abdullah Zeyara, the first Qatari student who won the Japanese Government Scholarship in 1999, following a brief presentation on the scholarship programmes by Hiromi Amano, public relations and cultural attaché, Japan embassy.
Zeyara spoke on his study and life in Japan and encouraged Japanese language learners to study in Japan through scholarship programmes.